


After the war: A new generation

by UnderlyingInterest



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: A more mature team Natsu, A new generation AU, After the Alvarez War, F/M, HOW DOES ONE TAG HERE, My First Fanfic, PTSD, This ship needs more love, Tickle Fights, rivalries
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-12
Updated: 2016-11-30
Packaged: 2018-08-30 11:43:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8531752
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnderlyingInterest/pseuds/UnderlyingInterest
Summary: It's been four years since the war between Fiore and Alvarez has concluded, and a new generation has sprouted their wings to grow into the people that they're meant to be, to grow into. Fairy tail is now one of the strongest Guilds in Magnolia and possibly Fiore, but evil is still showing itself, so there's no time to rest and more adventures to be had upon the way! This is Fairy Tail's New Generation!





	1. A new Generation's introduction

The wind briskly blew through the hill the young man was situated on. He used to remember the times when he’d wait and hum to the sounds of grass being blown, but he’s outgrown tiresome habits over the four years and settled on more sombre thoughts; the war, the death of the dragneel brothers, and when he and seven others were…, nevertheless, he found the hill overlooking the newly reformed Magnolia (thanks mostly to Jura and Warrod’s efforts), to be a calming place to relax alone. However, there were families much further down away from the forest that was just behind him. He stared at the group of children that were playing around, reminding him of fierier, cold and cake loving members of the guild. He reminds himself to pay his respect to the memorial stone behind the guild to his fallen friends and comrades. He smiled to the feeling of shade under the branches reaching over the arch of the hill. That is until a something stirred him from the relaxing presence of himself and the feeling of grass between his feet.

 

“Romeo, the master’s requested to see you” said a familiar voice. He instantly knew without looking to know who it was. He pretends not to notice the call of his partner. _Work_ partner, mind you. She waits tapping her foot signalling the young man to rise to no avail. She then stomps impatiently over to him and with her hands on her hips and her cheeks pouted out, huffing with indignation at the disdain Romeo was showing towards her. Suddenly a devilish smile flicked over her face with an idea to draw the attention of her partner.

“Ohhh Romeo, where art thou Romeo?” she says with that devilishly cute smile on her face, purring with last syllables of his name, poising herself as if she was acting. Romeo was instantly sitting up at the comment with scowl on his face and a light blush on his cheeks, rubbing his hand through his short black wavy raven hair, staring at the girl with the deep ocean blue hair reaching her hips, sporting a yellow sundress, showing a little cleavage from her now slightly curvaceous body.

 

“That’s not funny Wendy” he replies dully, glaring at her. She just transitions into a soft smile, covering her hand over her mouth to try to not giggle at Romeo’s flustered reaction.

 

“I fail to see how it isn’t, oh Romeo” she replies cheerfully as his onyx eyes harden at the comment. Since the war, Wendy’s been… different from her previous timid attitude, although it’s fair to say because of her age. But Romeo just thinks she’s mellowed out for other people’s sakes, forcing herself to be the one relied upon. It was a comforting thought to know that the next generation was becoming more capable. Romeo on the other hand, has been trying to find purpose, staying grounded in magnolia because of his attachments to the others in the guild. In a retrospective view, people are trying to move on when… well he wasn’t. Couldn’t. Romeo starts to growl as Wendy kept her smile on her face as she faintly snickers at his embarrassment that continues to grow his flush.

 

“So you coming oh Romeo? She asks failing to stop the giggles from coming out of her mouth. Romeo then pushes himself from the ground of grass to walk towards the giggling Sky Dragon Slayer with a sudden composure that felt awkward to look at compared to his previously spent embarrassment. Wendy’s laughing dies down slowly as he stares down at her with a stoic/unreadable face, slightly leaning closer than she would prefer.

 

“R-Romeo?” she questions as she feels her face heat up at the suddenly close distance. She could see his face and notice the difference between his child-like face he used to support now brandishing a strong chin with more defined features and surprisingly a small nose to support the arch of his slits that opens to his eyes. Romeo continues to stare thinking about how much longer he could make Wendy flustered. Without trying to laugh or raise suspicion to the Dragon Slayer, he slowly raises his hand trying not to shake and appear nonchalant as possible, swiftly moving his hand as he begins to speak.

“You should not really make fun of people without thinking about the consequences” he says with a bored tone as Wendy’s flushed face turns to a tomato thinking about what he’s implying confusedly staring away to hide her face.

 

“W-what, what do you mean?” she asks, cursing herself at her shaky reply.

 

“Well I had one thing in mind” he says trying with every fibre of his being trying not to laugh at her confused, embarrassed and somewhat cute face. “ _Wait, cute?_ ”. As he tries to piece together that last thought he slowly puts one of his hands on her shoulders and she turns to find that they were suddenly inches away from each other’s faces and finds herself entranced by the onyx dots in his scoria staring at her, and himself staring into her deep hazel orbs. “ _Wait, what was I doing?”._ Composing himself and the heat that he felt on his face, Romeo continues his original actions. Wendy could suddenly feel the touch on her body now as she tries to piece words together.

 

“R-r-r-r-Romeo?” she whispers as she feels his hand move slightly down her back.    

 

“Yes Wendy, what is it?” he asks with a handsome smirk on his face that made Wendy shiver. Taking it as his cue, due to the sudden feeling in Wendy’s body, he licks his lips.

 

“W-why are you touch-h-h-HAHAHHAHA” she laughs as she feels the tickling onslaught at her sides flailing to the ground as Romeo grins evilly at her moving his fingers more sporadically at her sides making her cackle with laughter. Wendy tries to force him off her, but being held down by the weight his legs on her waist.

 

“NO HAHAHAHHAHA-No, STO-HAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, PLEASE HAHAHA NOOOOOO!” she laughs as she feels his hands inch closer to her stomach.

 

As he starts to die down his movement, Wendy starts to calm her resistance to the broader male above her smiling at his handiwork like someone who finishes a delicious meal.

 

“Y-you happy?” she wheezes as she sits up next to Romeo smirking at the recently newfound joy of tickling his partner.

 

“Well, I did tell you were that there were consequences” he says flatly giving her a matter-of-fact look. Wendy stares at him with an incredulous glare. “ _Lowering my defences with a handsome face and pretty eyes is warning about consequences?_ ” she thinks perturbed. “ _Wait, handsome and pretty?”._ As she ponders her thought, she didn’t notice Romeo’s movement as he ousted himself from the ground and putting his sandals on. She turns to find a hand in front of her face as her thoughts are abruptly halted. “ _I’ll think about it later”_ she tells herself and sighs. She takes the offered hand and pulls herself up and they start to walk down the hill side-by-side towards the towering and centred guild.

 

“You know, it’s not very gentlemanly surprising a lady and enjoying it” Wendy says offhandedly staring at the ongoing lives in Magnolia. They were traveling through the market stalls and a light crowd of people that surrounded the stalls and carts here and there.

 

“Well a lady would know not to mock a gentleman” Romeo interjects with a bored look as he tugs on his scaly memento around his neck to tighten it and puts his hands in his pockets.

 

“But gentleman don’t tickle someone randomly, they’re supposed to be tactful” she counters intelligently and stares at him as he scowls with a grunt.

 

“Well for one thing, I warned you” he says annoyed, pulling a hands out of his pocket. “And plus, it makes me happy when you laugh like that” he says meekly with a soft tone as he scratches his pink dusted cheeks trying not to connect with her stare. Wendy instantly feels her cheeks heat up at the comment and not notice the upcoming obstacle. Or in this case Charle.

 

“Wendy! I thought the master told you to bring Romeo to guild, not merrily walk around and flirt with him!” she exclaims with a huff. If the blushes weren’t apparent on either of their faces before, it was now.

 

“ **WE ARE NOT FLIRTING AT ALL!** ” they exclaim loudly together gathering the attention of everyone in the vicinity. They suddenly both had ashamed looks on their sullen faces as they stare at the ground trying to divert the attention from the embarrassing scene they caused. As people start to shrug off the scene and chuckles from the men and women nearby died down, they continue to walk with their flushes and a transformed exceed Charle lying on Wendy’s head as they head out to the guild.

 

As they begin to get towards the guild they Romeo suddenly stopped at the front gates of the cathedral looking guild with them both looking at the door.

 

“Is something wrong Romeo?” asks Wendy worriedly as she inches toward him. He puts a hand up to halt her advancing movement. Charle suddenly notices the battle stance he was supporting as she realises what Romeo was waiting for. “ _These fools…_ ”. She sighs to herself waiting for what’s going to happen next.

 

In an instant a shadow zipped around Romeo and Wendy a zooms in front of Romeo. Wendy was caught off guard at the speed preparing for a battle, but is suddenly thrown off by the uncharacteristic frown on Romeo’s face. Romeo suddenly grabs the fist that was going for his abdomen.

 

“So, what is it now Do’ria?” Romeo asks with a bored sigh, looking slightly up at his guild mate. Do’ria Mason was wearing his usual attire of his trademark red lens goggles around his neck, an open brown and pink striped plaid shirt that blended to his dark tan skin surprisingly well showing off his slightly toned body, however he wasn’t as toned as Romeo was, (usually garnering people’s attention to say that he usually looked anorexic next to the broader young male usually to his dismay), and wearing puffed light blue (almost white) pants tucked into simple deep black combat boots, with a beige sash stretching down from in his waistline to his thighs and back around within his pants again. He affirmed that he got Romeo’s words with a grunt as his waist length straight grey, more than blonde, hair with surprisingly no split ends (for the volume that it was) swayed slightly in the wind. Wendy found it a little disturbing how the young man looked a lot like Tempester in his human form from the battle of Tartaros. Even his frozen body brought chills to Wendy’s psyche at the memory of the fallen demon.

 

“Nothing much really, just welcoming home _the_ Romeo that uses little pissy flames” he says silkily with a smirk leaning over Romeo just to show off his slightly taller length to the fire mage. It may have been the way he said it evenly, it may have been the cockiness that he usually showed, but if one thing was for sure, Romeo was irked to no end at the last comment, causing a twitch near his eyes. Wendy sighed walking next the guild door to wait for the mages to stop arguing, with Charle murmuring about how the guild now welcomed more barbaric idiots into the guild now.

 

“Oh really, I thought your rusty blades were getting fixed after the damage I dealt to them with my “pissy little flames”” he retorts mockingly with a stoic face raising his hands slightly at the end to present his air quotes. The anger was now present on Do’ria’s face at the comment, causing his broad chin face to slightly twitch.

 

“So you were the bastard that ruined my charinko?” he says threateningly as a light starts to shine around his body inching his legs apart slightly to leave a comfortable gap between them to stance.

 

“Yeah I was” Romeo says with a sly grin his hands now balled into fists at his side. Wendy just gave a tired sigh, looking with a knowing face to know what was about to ensue. Romeo surprisingly didn’t throw the first punch at Do’ria, with the former making a swipe with his stretched out leg at a lowered stance in in a one-eighty-degree fashion to trip the mage. Unluckily for Do’ria, Romeo foresaw the attempt and back flipped a few feet and set his hands alight.

 

“Trying flashy tricks are we, Earth boy?”. Do’ria’s glare was answer enough then to show he was a little disconcerted at the comment, much to Romeo’s delight as his face lit up at the dark male’s dismay.

 

“Really? I thought flipping was normal around here, Ember boy” says evenly, purring at the last syllables of the nickname. The twitch was intense on both their faces, funny even, showing the beginning of the bout.

 

“You want to go Rusty Ass!?”.

 

“Sure thing Purple Shit!”.

 

“Sash-wearing weirdo!”.

 

“Scarf-wearing idiot!”.

 

Both their bloods were boiling at the limit, but in the background Wendy looked on at the scene with bored thoughts, trying to keep herself entertained.” _So this is how Lucy felt..._ ” she wonders as she fishes around her bag for one of her spell books to read in the meantime. It was just as she opened up one of her recent finds the two lunge at each other, scattering the dust around them as they start to throw their punches. The fighting continued on for a little while before Charle asked Wendy if she wanted to stop them, to which she responded with an arched brow; “Do you want to deal with this?” she asks indicating the fighting males. Charle only frowned at the comment, but understood it was for the best.

 

“JUST WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING!?” roared a voice in front of the guild, but that didn’t gain the attention of the bickering males as it would’ve usually. But Wendy and Charle recoiled back at response flinching knowing it was for the best to not interfere the oncoming woman’s assault on Romeo and Do’ria.

 

It was also in that moment when they both used their magic, Romeo with his Purple Flare and Do’ria with his requip, to beat more superiority into each other. Unluckily for them, Romeo’s fist was redirected with a blow from a staff used by Do’ria and sent the fire into the other direction of the woman, hitting her dead on in the mouth. They both stopped dead in their tracks when they realised who they hit. Dead silence hit them that moment when they stopped fighting, filling them with trepidation for their punishment.

 

“W-welcome home Ruby!” Wendy said sheepishly and a little too loudly. The smaller woman just gave a grunt for an affirmation to Wendy, and redirected herself to the two terrified mages staring at Ruby and started to turn to liquid at her bloodlust ridden smile at them.

 

“So, who’s going to die first?” she asked earning an ‘eep!’ at the two mages holding onto each other as they fell onto their knees.

 

 

***

 

Overlooking the scene were three of the guild’s most prominent members chuckling to themselves at the group’s banter reminding them of fonder memories, but the laughter only lasted a little while, setting a sombre mood over them. One of them sighs and struts off with his hands in his pockets. After all, he had no right to be standing there with them enjoying the scene. This caused the other two to frown at him, but after the hells they’ve been through, it must’ve been an indescribable feeling of loss to carry the weight your best friend’s death and to continue on living with it nonchalantly as if everything in reality were alright. But it wasn’t. And it would never be.


	2. The Cursed Ball arc: Prologue- Part 1: The Job Request

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey Guys! Sorry it's been a while, but I've just had my exams, so I haven't had much time to write. But I'm back and ready to continue on with the story. Also, leave comments and Constructive criticism for me to read, (it'd be such a great help (^-^) ). Anyways enjoy! 
> 
> -Dan

“So” Ruby said with an even tone, one that could be heard over the conversations of the busily populated guild hall. “are you going to play nice?” she asks with a growl, showing off her sharp teeth.

 

“Tell that to Ember Boy here, Red!” Do’ria whines to Ruby with an underlying tone of banter, using her nickname to try to pay his way out of his punishments. And it worked usually. Sometimes. Ok, not often, but it did have a calming effect on her. Romeo’s eyes flitted over to Do’ria for a split second to glare at him but went back to Ruby, posed with stoic visage to cover the pain he felt in his body as Wendy knelt near him to heal his wounds.

 

Ruby just paused and leans closer to him to show she was angry. And boy was she. The usual bravado he was wearing in that moment crumbled at the death glare causing him to squeak an “eep!”. The short women let out a sigh as she rubs her temples to soothe her painful headache. They weren’t usually this bad during the day, although she could blame it on the two idiots sitting on their knees in front of her.

 

“How was the mission Ruby?” asks Wendy curiously as she heals Romeo. Ruby’s anger was now replaced with a timid attitude, almost meek (not something that you would mention to her), as she fidgeted with her fingers to not show she was ashamed.

 

“W-well I-I um, kinda destroyed the establishment, ehe-heh” she says as she darts her eyes to the ground. The other three just sigh at her, knowing someone must have set her off short fuse.

 

“By the way, I like the dress” Wendy compliments as she smiles at the newly worn attire Ruby was wearing. Ruby blushed at the compliment, finding it hard to stare at her friend when she wore a dress like hers so naturally. “Th-thanks” she mutters timidly. Do’ria was taking in the attire his best friend was supporting. Ruby Silhouetto had her seamless black and white tipped hair braided and slung around the left of her neck, with her black Fang wrapped around her neck by a thin blue rope and which seemed to direct anyone’s attention towards her sun gold eyes, even with her small stature and voluptuous body. Her tan skin was showing a lot more a lot more than she usually would show, but that was mainly because of her clothes. She wore black under shirt with a red dress that was draped around her shoulders with lots of material and showed off her back and her guild mark could be seen right above her cleavage and showed with its silver colouring, contrasting greatly against her skin and wore a dark-greyish skirt that reached just above her knees and had small bronze braces wrapped above her ankles and had her red sandals tied on tightly. You could also see part of her crimson tribal tattoos just under your skirt if you peered a little clos-

 

“C-could you not stare?” Ruby asks as her cheeks are painted with a dusty rose spots as she fidgets and plays with the hem of her dress, drawing the attention of Do’ria’s blue irises back onto her face. He felt his somewhat slack jawed face thaw and move back to her petite face.

 

“O-oh, right sorry” he mutters as he rubs the back of his neck with a toothy grin back at her. Wendy smiles at the interaction, while Romeo scoffs under his breath “pervert…”, to which Wendy glares back at him and he realises that she just heard him.  

 

“Anyways,” Wendy says as she puts her hands behind her back and transitions her glare into a nonchalant face back at Romeo. “the master still needs to see you Romeo”.

 

Romeo shifted his stoic visage into a genuine bright smile at the mention of the master. He and the master had a budding relationship after the war and especially so after he went missing for a year, rekindling a passion for a world he thought he lost.

 

“Mmmhm” he affirms standing up and dusting himself off and walks toward the second storey of the guild with Wendy following suit, leaving Do’ria and Ruby to talk amongst themselves about some small talk and for him to say he needs to meet his mentor for more training to which Ruby nods understandingly. As Romeo and Wendy strutted slowly, they made little small talk about jobs they completed by themselves, laughing at funny stories they told each other and a comfortable silence settles on them as they walk towards the guild master’s office. The door opens sending in light through, blinding them a little as they didn’t see the face of the greeter.

 

“They’re here master” Levy says to the turned chair as she walks back to one of the nearby desks, sighing and rubbing her temples soothingly as she sat down realising she would have to sort out the paperwork for Ruby’s blunder at the hunter’s hall.

 

“…” a silence set over the tenth guild master as he sighs, frustratingly. The chair turns around showing a peeved (and unusually clean and groomed) Gildarts as he says; “Levy, I thought I told you just to refer to me as Gildarts.”

 

“Right, sorry Mas… Gildarts” she amends as she opens up some documentation and begins to write. Gildarts nods at the secretary as he turns back to the two mages with a bright smile.

“Good to see you again, Romeo, Wendy, been on any interesting jobs lately?” Gildarts asks with a soft smile as he walks away from his desk to get a drink of coffee from one of the messy tables.

 

“Hehe, I guess there’s been a few,” Romeo says as he looks away with a distant faceas he recollects the missions he’s been on. “So what did you need mas- “

 

“Gildarts” corrects the older man as he hands Romeo a cup of tea and Wendy coffee with milk.

 

“Right, what’d you need Gildarts?” Romeo asks as he places his steamy tea down and places his hands behind his head in a relaxed fashion and smirks at the older man sitting back down on his chair.

 

“Oh it’s nothing much really, just a job request for you, Wendy, Ruby and Do’ria to go together and… you still listening?” he asks as he sees a mix of emotions shows on Romeo’s face as it blanches at the mention of him having to go with the _two_ people he didn’t want to be coupled with for a mission. Especially Ruby if Do’ria’s with him, it can only end a few ways he’d not like to think about.

 

“S-sorry, please continue” he says as he gulps and sweat beads on the back of his neck. Wendy gives a worried stare for a second, oblivious to Romeo’s worries and shrugs it off to continue to listen to Gildarts.

 

“Right, anyways, we’ve been sent _two_ requests for you two to go on this job with Do’ria and Ruby, however” he pauses so he sees that all attention was focused on him, he continues; “there’s been a request from a client _and_ the magic council”.

 

It was at that moment Romeo and Wendy seemed to be interested more so by the mention of the magic council being a benefactor for a job than the job itself. Romeo moved the hands from his head to cross at his chest with a strangely bitter face. Wendy took notice of it, but made no mention of it.

 

“So, what involvement does the council want in this?” asks Wendy as she cocks her head with a mild curiosity gracing her features.

 

“Well, the job itself was for a group of mages from guilds to join a masquerading ball, which the is request the same for both benefactors of the job, however the town wants to be investigated by our guild for the magic council. The other client being the organiser of the ball and the mayor of the town wanting us being security for the party because the strange occurrences happening”. Gildarts was musing at the last bit of his summary with a pensive aura surrounding his being.

 

“And these occurrences are?” Romeo asks tapping his feet impatiently and a little vexed at the pacing of the conversation and the occasional pauses by Gildarts. Gildarts laughs at the gesture.

 

“You know, you remind me of _Him_ when you act like that…” Gildarts lets out with a wane smile. There was a reverent pause that followed, setting in a tense and sombre ambiance. Even Levy paused at the writing that she was busily completing on the forms. Romeo then coughs awkwardly, staring at the ground, to break the tension that filled the small room. Gildarts nods appreciatively and continues on with the dossier.

 

“Right, the occurrences are that there’s a magical curse that causes people’s ethernano levels to drop fatally low levels, and it seems the cause of the curse is the town’s ghost, more specifically, the mayor’s grandmother, Madam Elitra. Heh, there’s even an old statue that’s dedicated to her, that’s been set up to tithe to for repentance against her spirit.”

 

“So the curse is coming in the form of malevolence against the townspeople, correct?” Wendy asks with her eyes still glossy from the silence. Romeo makes a note to see if she’s alright later, and continues to listen to hear what else the Fairy Tail master has to say. Gildarts nods, putting his now finished cup of coffee down on his desk and sit’s back at his table with an unreadable face as he clasps his hands together for his final summary.

 

“So, your new objective is simple. Investigate and discover the source of the town’s curse and find a way to save the people from it, you have a week before the ball to complete, so please, help these people.”

 

“Yes Master!” both Romeo and Wendy say in unison, causing the old man to laugh at their gesture (and ignoring the irritating mention of ‘master’ to Gildarts…). They both start to turn and leave before Gildarts stops them by raising his hand.

 

“Romeo, we still need to talk for a little while about… _that_ ,” Gildarts says and causes the young wizard to suddenly stop his movements and break a cold sweat. Wendy seemed confused by it, but decided to ask about it later. “but Wendy, you go and inform Do’ria and Ruby about the mission and details, so good luck until then dear” he adds warmly causing the young woman to smile. She places down her coffee and thanks Gildarts for the drink and turns to leave.

 

“Of course Gildarts. See you in a bit Ohhhh Romeo” Wendy says while winking, causing the fire mage to give an annoyed look and sigh. Gildarts raised a brow at the interaction and simply walks around to be seated on the front of his populated and messy desk.

 

“Right, see you in bit…” Romeo mutters to Wendy and turning his attention to the elder man once she left and closed the door behind her.

 

“So, what was that about?” Gildarts shoots at Romeo, who just grimaces in response.

 

“Nothing important…” Romeo grumbles, causing Gildarts to chuckle at him with a Cheshire grin.

 

“You know you should just ask your girlfriend to stop nicely if it bothers you so much” Gildarts remarks with a grin that grew slyer as did Romeo’s flush. Levy was listening in on the conversation then and was using all of her will then not to laugh at boiling younger mage.

 

“SHE’S NOT MY GIRLFRIEND!” Romeo bursts, letting loose the floodgates; making Levy double over in laughter and Gildarts uses his hand to cover his mouth to audibly stop his guffaws from releasing. Romeo’s flush grew to new heights from that point on, and causing Levy to wheeze even more. Eventually the chuckles subsided and a composed secretary readying her pen look over to the older smiling man and pink faced young man patiently.

 

There was a pregnant pause between them, not really knowing how to converse about the issue at hand, until Levy looked up and removed her glasses and said; “Have you had any relapses within the following month? Or more specifically, felt any symptoms?” she asks bluntly, causing Romeo to recoil by wincing and Gildarts giving both a thankful and glaring face at the secretary.

 

“Do you mean physically?... Or m-mentally?” he gulps with an unnerved look on his face. Romeo could tell instantly that his body was tense, the sweaty palms, rigid feeling in his ligaments and that sudden chill he felt whenever he talked about _it_. He hated discussing the issue with his physical state, much more his mental one involving around his mage body. He could still feel the pain on from that day, the way it pierced, felt like it was going to rip him apart cell by cell, begging for the sweet relief of death, those long torturous nights filled with blood curdling screams from his friends…. He suddenly felt a spreading warmth on his shoulder compared to his unusually cold body. Romeo hadn’t realised he was breathing was more languid, that all the colour vanished on his face and that his eyes were closed, but he instantly opened them to find the source of the warmth to be Gildarts’ hand on his left shoulder.

“We’ll go a step at a time, for now we want to know your physical state over your mental one” the older man assured, setting more colour and a small amount of vigour back into the young Conbolt’s face as he focused just on the words, feeling his limbs become slightly less ridgid and the soothing voice of Gildarts. “ _That’s right. One step at a time, one step at a time, one step at a…”._ Romeo thought as the line repeated itself and lull him into a serene bliss.

 

Gildarts noticed the way he started to panic, the way his body constricted, not letting his airways flow, and how his eyes closed. it was the most common and yet foreign feeling any man can experience. _Fear_. “ _He really does mirror Natsu in so many ways, even at heart. Yet the world’s been crueller to Romeo than him.”_ Gildarts thinks bitterly as he watches the broad, young man settle.

 

“… I’ve been feeling this sort of warmth, more so lately, like it’s building up, but never reaching its peak, almost waiting for the decisive moment to break loose. However, this sensation predominantly happens _outside_ of battle, giving a sense of balance… if that makes sense? But most of all this _feeling_ , it’s assuring. _Safe_ even”. Romeo smiled to himself at recollection of the feelings. Levy nodded at him and wrote it down for him to refer for medicinal purposes at a predetermined time, and they continued to shoot questions & answers back and forth for a while, some from Romeo, some from Levy. After a while, Levy seemed satisfied with the current diagnosis of Romeo, while Romeo seemed tired and out of breath with the questioning. The two of them hadn’t noticed that it was now noon already, but Gildarts was busy with communication, keeping an eye out on Romeo and the lacrima for contacting both benefactors of the aforementioned job.

The mission starts tomorrow, but that didn't help stop Gildarts' worries over the mage that are going to possibly be sent to their deaths, but he has to live with it, after all, there's a reason everyone calls him 'Master' now. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what'd you think? Good? Bad? I've never really been good with prologues, but I think I'm happy with the result so far.   
> Anyways, reminders again to write down Constructive criticism, it helps a lot and support what you're reading when you do so, so write down anything at all. Anyways, that's enough rambling for now, 
> 
> Happy Reading! -  
> Dan

**Author's Note:**

> Hey! This is my First fic on AO3 and hope you enjoyed it, (although being my first it's probably bad T_T)! Any and all comments and constructive critisism is welcomed, so please go ahead and write it down! Also, write down any guesses for the next chapter for what's going to happen (I'm curious to see what people say), and have a great day.  
> Happy reading!  
> \- Dan


End file.
